Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 76953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
With that, I ended the call and slipped my phone into my bag without a second glance.
I didn’t want her words to sink in. I didn’t need more reasons to be sad about a situation I was trying to put behind me.
There was no stopping them, though.
Suddenly, I was transported back to the clubhouse, to catching sight of Perish sipping the dregs of my margarita as the girls and I danced around to some silly pop song that, for reasons I didn’t even remember anymore, was ‘our’ song.
I tried not to look at him, to make it obvious to anyone how much I wanted him the second I saw him again.
So I hadn’t seen what Layna had.
That didn’t mean that I doubted her, though.
If there was one thing you could usually say about that particular cousin of mine, it was that she was observant. It was part of what made her so damn good at card games. She could spot even the smallest tell. Because her livelihood depended on it.
So if she said she saw wonder, I believed her.
But that only made the whole situation worse.
We were both interested.
We were both also painfully aware of the reasons it couldn’t go any further.
I took a sip of my coffee.
It had been the perfect color, flavor, and sweetness.
But it tasted like sawdust on my tongue.
With a grumble, I tucked it in the crook of my arm, yanked the stairwell door open, and moved out onto my floor.
“I can’t fucking believe this,” a woman’s voice snarled in the hallway after a door slammed. Her high heels clacked against the floor as she seemed to make a beeline for me in all of her gorgeous red suit-dress glory. “Are you single?” she asked, her icy blue eyes pinning me to the spot.
“I, uh, yeah.”
“Take it from me, keep it that way. Don’t give these men your youth to consume only to drop you for the next young, pretty thing.”
Ah.
So she was coming from the lawyer’s office.
In the short time I’d been renting an office, I’d overheard dozens of screaming matches and angry rants coming from inside the family law office.
I’m not proud to admit that I sometimes listened a little closer to see what everyone was so angry about. One time, they were fighting over custody of the dog. And, hey, fair. Another time, it was about a collection of coffee cups. Which I figured had more to do with hurting each other than actual coffee cups.
“I hope you get everything you want in the divorce,” I told her.
“Well, I don’t think I’m going to get his balls. But I will settle for the house,” she said, exhaling hard, some of the anger deflating. “But seriously, don’t fall for a man who tells you he loves you. Only one who shows you he does. That’s my advice.”
With that, she walked off to the elevators. I turned to watch her confident stride and upright posture.
Until the doors were almost closed.
Then I saw her face crumple.
My heart ached for her. For all of us, I guess. Because we’d all been there. Fooled by a man with charming words but whose actions never proved them true.
That man was watching you dance like you were the most precious thing he’s ever seen.
And I was suddenly struck by how different Perish had been. Because his words never promised anything. But his actions had always shown how upstanding he was.
“Ugh,” I grumbled, shoving my hand in my bag to fumble for my keys.
I needed to stop.
My bag half-fell from my shoulder, and I shifted things around, trying to find the stupid keychain as I made my way to my office.
It was that distraction that made me not notice until I stabbed the key in the lock that the door wasn’t even closed.
My spine straightened.
Ice flooded my veins.
The keys dropped silently back into my bag as my hand reached for my bottle of pepper spray instead.
In my head, I could hear my uncles and cousins telling me to walk into one of the other offices, to call them, to let them go in and investigate.
There were just as many aunts and cousins, though, who reminded me that I was strong, independent, and capable of checking out my burgled office.
Sucking in a deep breath, I pressed my finger under the twist lock, then touched the trigger.
Then I pushed a shoulder into the door.
I was glad I’d thoroughly greased the hinges when I first moved in because the door was whisper silent as I moved into the threshold.
The lights were on inside, and it was a small enough space that I didn’t really need to worry that someone was hiding away behind a large piece of furniture.
I inched closer to the storage closet and whipped it open, even though I knew the thing featured floor-to-ceiling shelves that would have prevented anyone larger than a toddler from hiding in there. Make sure you clear the room, my Aunt Lo’s voice spoke in my ear.